*** This review may contain spoilers ***
*Plot and ending analyzed*
A prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) escapes the extremely brutal and tough conditions of the Yuma Territorial Prison. He is given help by a man from a poor peon mining village, where the men work as slaves, getting gold out for the local strong-arm boss.
Eventually the prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) shoots a man in self-defense and brings inquiries about who he is and where he came from. He even gets a job from the local strong-arm boss. Then they show some infighting between a couple of the local strong-arm boss's men. Apparently they are fighting over some woman.
The strong-arm boss also has some vicious Mexican bandits on his payroll to kill any peasants who want to try to get the gold to Tucson Arizona for a fair price. They are given information by an informant who is a peasant.
Slowly, we begin to learn that the current local strong-arm boss had another wealthy man jailed and put into the Yuma Territorial Prison. The escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) saved him from a whipping, and later escaped with him, but the man died. We are led to surmise that the escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) was promised gold for helping him. And the woman that the two men were fighting over was his daughter.
This Western is completely average, but there are some nice scenes with music that usher in a touch of sadness. Especially when the local strong-arm boss has his men hang up by the arms, the escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) and has him beaten; the director inserts flashbacks of when he saved the older man from a whipping. What also really works is the enigmatic nature of the escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi). He is quite laconic and we don't know anything about him. This is an asset for his mournful persona. There is also some nice little class consciousness added to the movie, not the full dose that you usually find in Zapata Spaghetti Westerns, but just enough to perceive that the peons at the end are now wary of gold exploiters taking over again.
The ending is right out of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), they also filmed it at the same location. But they did not even get as close to how good Sergio Leone edited his ending. And Italian actor Fabio Testi is nowhere near as great an actor, or even presence as Clint Eastwood. But he does have a youthful appearance that works well.
The version I watched was in Spanish with no subtitles. The audio was not very good, so it is difficult to hear what is being said at times. It is also in Castilian Spanish from the heart of Spain, and introductory Spanish students may have trouble with the accents.
What to look out for:
Italian actor Fabio Testi shooting a barber in self defense while leaning backwards in a barber chair.
Italian actor Fabio Testi using a leather hand strap when in a gunfight. Clint Eastwood wore a leather shooting wrist cuff in For a Few Dollars More (1965).
A beautiful and morose main musical theme.
*Plot and ending analyzed*
A prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) escapes the extremely brutal and tough conditions of the Yuma Territorial Prison. He is given help by a man from a poor peon mining village, where the men work as slaves, getting gold out for the local strong-arm boss.
Eventually the prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) shoots a man in self-defense and brings inquiries about who he is and where he came from. He even gets a job from the local strong-arm boss. Then they show some infighting between a couple of the local strong-arm boss's men. Apparently they are fighting over some woman.
The strong-arm boss also has some vicious Mexican bandits on his payroll to kill any peasants who want to try to get the gold to Tucson Arizona for a fair price. They are given information by an informant who is a peasant.
Slowly, we begin to learn that the current local strong-arm boss had another wealthy man jailed and put into the Yuma Territorial Prison. The escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) saved him from a whipping, and later escaped with him, but the man died. We are led to surmise that the escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) was promised gold for helping him. And the woman that the two men were fighting over was his daughter.
This Western is completely average, but there are some nice scenes with music that usher in a touch of sadness. Especially when the local strong-arm boss has his men hang up by the arms, the escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi) and has him beaten; the director inserts flashbacks of when he saved the older man from a whipping. What also really works is the enigmatic nature of the escaped prisoner (Italian actor Fabio Testi). He is quite laconic and we don't know anything about him. This is an asset for his mournful persona. There is also some nice little class consciousness added to the movie, not the full dose that you usually find in Zapata Spaghetti Westerns, but just enough to perceive that the peons at the end are now wary of gold exploiters taking over again.
The ending is right out of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), they also filmed it at the same location. But they did not even get as close to how good Sergio Leone edited his ending. And Italian actor Fabio Testi is nowhere near as great an actor, or even presence as Clint Eastwood. But he does have a youthful appearance that works well.
The version I watched was in Spanish with no subtitles. The audio was not very good, so it is difficult to hear what is being said at times. It is also in Castilian Spanish from the heart of Spain, and introductory Spanish students may have trouble with the accents.
What to look out for:
Italian actor Fabio Testi shooting a barber in self defense while leaning backwards in a barber chair.
Italian actor Fabio Testi using a leather hand strap when in a gunfight. Clint Eastwood wore a leather shooting wrist cuff in For a Few Dollars More (1965).
A beautiful and morose main musical theme.